1960s78 - US Foreign Policy

Kennedy's Theory to Opposing Communism
- "The Domino Theory"
- If one country falls to Communism, the surrounding countries will also fall, just like dominoes
Cuban Missile Crisis -John F. Kennedy
- American U-2 spy planes took photographs of a Soviet intermediate-range ballistic missile site under construction in Cuba
- Kennedy set up a naval blockade around Cuba to keep them from receiving supplies from the Soviets
- Kennedy also demanded that the missiles be removed and the construction sight be destroyed
- The U.S. waited thirteen days to see how the Soviets would respond
- Wanting to prevent nuclear war, Soviet leader Khrushchev turned his ships back

The American U-2 Plane

Fidel Castro and John F. Kennedy

Bay of Pigs -JFK
- The U.S. wanted to overthrow Fidel Castro
- U.S.-trained Cuban insurgents were to invade Cuba and instigate an uprising among the Cuban people
- The Cubans however, fought back and it looked as if the U.S. was going to lose
- President Kennedy had the option of using the U.S. Air Force, but decided against it
- As a result, Castro held off Kennedy's invasion
- This defeat was an embarrassment to Kennedy, and it made Castro forever wary of the U.S.
Vietnam War under John F. Kennedy
- After Eisenhower, Kennedy increased American aid and increased the amount of military officials
- During the last few weeks of Kennedy's life, he was determining the involvement of the U.S
- On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated
- No one knows if Kennedy would have got more involved in the U.S. or if he would have withdrew the military
Vietnam War under Lyndon B. Johnson
- When Johnson came into presidency, he increased the U.S. aid during Vietnam
- In February 1965, Johnson authorized U.S. combat troupes and he began the bombing of North Vietnam
- A few days after the bombing of North Vietnam, Johnson authorized the program called Rolling Thunder. This program was a series of bombings.
- In April 1965, Johnson sent a battalion of U.S. marines to Da Nang
- In May, Johnson urged Congress to fund the U.S. effort in Vietnam
- In June, Johnson gave permission for American troops to begin ground combat operations in Vietnam
- In 1968 North Vietnam bombed cities in South Vietnam. These attacks were known as the Tet Offensive
- The Tet Offensive was a way for the U.S. to bargain with North Vietnam
- The Tet Offensive was not a military defeat, but it took down Johnson.
- Lyndon B. Johnson did not run for President again